John Levack Drever’s interdisciplinary practice bridges music, acoustics, audiology, ambiance, soundscapes, urban planning and sound art. His work involves the devising and study of listening experiences focused on themes of place, comfort, listening, and hearing, often in collaboration with other researchers and public participation. His enquiry from 2007 to 2012 into the soundscapes of public toilets, which had become a hostile environment for many due to the ubiquity of ‘ecological’ hand dryers, led him to advocate for a new paradigm of hearing, which he termed auraldiversity. He proposes a shift from a metrics-oriented concept of otologically "normal" hearing to a socio-cultural understanding of auraltypical hearing, championing an inclusive agenda of auraldiversity and aural relativism across fields such as music, sound studies, acoustics, and urban design. These ideas were first presented at Hearing Landscape Critically: Music, Place, and the Spaces of Sound at Harvard University in 2013. Since then, the concept has gained significant momentum, recognised as a pressing new field of research, influencing academic work (e.g., AHRC Network, RMA 2020, Internoise 2022, and Urban Sound Symposium 2023), policy development (Welsh Government), and industry practices in hearing aid manufacturing, acoustics, and engineering (e.g., ReSound, ARUP, Anderson Acoustics). With Prof. Andrew Hugill, he co-directs the Aural Diversity Project and co-edited Aural Diversity (Routledge, 2022). John is also co-director of the newly funded LAURA (Leverhulme Trust Aural Diversity Doctoral Research Hub) in partnership with the University of Salford, which will support 25 PhD students.

An avid soundwalker and field recordist, John’s practice is rooted in the concept of acoustic ecology. After completing his PhD in composition at Dartington College of Arts, he coordinated 'Sounding Dartmoor: A Participative Soundscape Study'. In 1998, he co-founded the UK and Ireland Soundscape Community, affiliated with the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology. As part of this initiative, he chaired Sound Practice (Dartington College of Arts, 2001), the first UK conference dedicated to soundscapes. In 2004, he was elected to the board of the Sonic Arts Network and became its final chair in 2008. With the Academy of Urbanism, he has participated in many urban place studies, bringing a sonic perspective to the group.

Currently, John is researching auditory spatial perception, proposing an expansion of the concept of paracusis loci (a diminished ability to perceive or localize sounds in space) to encompass panacusis loci (exceptional auditory spatial ability) and patacusi loci (a pataphysical approach that explores unconventional, speculative, and creative ways in which people might experience sound in space).

An active sonic artist, John has collaborated with artists such as Rachel Gomme, Alice Oswald, Alaric Sumner, Tony Thatcher, Tony Whitehead (RSPB), Louise K. Wilson, Suiji Okada, and comedian Mark Kelly. He is a member of Blind Ditch and has worked extensively with poet Lawrence Upton. His commissions span renowned institutions, including the Groupe de Recherches Musicales in Paris (1999), the Shiga National Museum in Japan (2012), Trumpington Park Primary School in Cambridge (2021-22), and IMMA in Dublin (2023). 

John has held several prestigious academic positions: Arts Council of England/AHRB Arts and Science Research Fellow at City University of London (2003-4), Visiting Scholar at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong (2007), Visiting Research Fellow at Seian University of Art and Design, Japan (2012-13), and Guest Professor at Aarhus University’s Department of Digital Design and Information Studies (2016). Prizes include Music Nova, Prague, 1996 & 1997, Worst Sound of the Year, 2020. 

From 2003 to 2024, John was a full-time lecturer in the Music Department at Goldsmiths, where he co-founded and co-directed the Unit for Sound Practice Research. He was promoted to Professor of Acoustic Ecology and Sound Art in 2014. As the leader of the internationally renowned MMus in Sonic Arts, he has had the honour of mentoring generations of practitioners and supervising many exceptional doctoral researchers. He served as Deputy Dean of the Graduate School (2016-20) and Deputy Director for CHASE (AHRC DTP, 2022-24). From 2018-21, he was a Thesis Supervisor for MArch Design for Performance & Interaction at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.

In 2023, John wrote and presented Tuner of the World, a BBC Radio 3 Sunday Feature produced by Rami Tzabar. The program was shortlisted for the prestigious Prix Europa.

John is the director of Otoloci, an ambience and soundscape consultancy.